page_title: Ganges
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Ganges / Economy
caption_attribution_description: Inde Haridwar. A girl selling plastic containers for carrying Ganges water, Haridwar. Inde India people portrait young girl jeune fille child
context_page_description: The Ganges or Ganga, is a trans-boundary river of Asia which flows through India and Bangladesh. The 2,704 km river originates from the Gangotri Glacier of western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of India and Bangladesh, eventually emptying into the Bay of Bengal.
  The Ganges is a lifeline to millions who live along its course. It is a sacred river and worshipped as the goddess Ganga in Hinduism. It has been important historically; many former provincial or imperial capitals have been located on its banks.
  The Ganges is threatened by severe pollution. This poses a danger not only to humans but also to animals; the Ganges is home to approximately 140 species of fish and 90 species of amphibians. The river also contains reptiles and mammals, including critically endangered species such as the Gharial and South Asian river dolphin. The levels of fecal coliform bacteria from human waste in the river near Varanasi are more than a hundred times the Indian government's official limit.
context_section_description: The Ganges Basin with its fertile soil is instrumental to the agricultural economies of India and Bangladesh. The Ganges and its tributaries provide a perennial source of irrigation to a large area. Chief crops cultivated in the area include rice, sugarcane, lentils, oil seeds, potatoes, and wheat. Along the banks of the river, the presence of swamps and lakes provides a rich growing area for crops such as legumes, chillies, mustard, sesame, sugarcane, and jute. There are also many fishing opportunities along the river, though it remains highly polluted. Also the major industrial towns of Unnao and Kanpur, situated on the banks of the river with the predominance of tanning industries add to the pollution. Kanpur is the largest city on the Ganges.
caption: A girl selling plastic containers for carrying Ganges water, Haridwar.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon DIGITAL IXUS 330", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2004:08:10 13:06:10", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "187", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1433", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5115", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2004:08:10 13:06:10", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2004:08:10 13:06:10", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "287/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "118447/32768", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "46955/16384", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "19/2", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "768", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1024", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "512000/103", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "153600/31", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}